all the Odyssey links worth a read
Is the “xenia” in the room with us
There is a cop-out argument to be made in that I actually wish we could stand around the fire (internet) and argue about 3,000-year-old epic poetry forever. It’s been fascinating to spend the last couple of days watching the discourse slosh around Emily Wilson’s review of The Odyssey (which, first of all, what a coup for LRB!), which began by generating a shared sense of awe in witnessing a famous academic try to give the smackdown to a much more famous movie director; followed by immediate activation of all the existing factions of Odyssey critics (Wilson’s line about the “wine-dark sea” being “more grey than purple” was my favorite bit of nitpicking); which then went on to trigger all manner of film fans’ wrath re: the idea that a movie adaptation was being graded on its fidelity to the source text (thereby also triggering anyone with thoughts on the function of adaptation and translation, ooooh now us humanities nerds are really cooking); and finally wrapped up with a general conclusion that well perhaps academics are supposed to be curmudgeonly and annoying about their fields of expertise, and that’s why we need them. (They certainly aren’t known for being particularly appreciative creatures — I had a nice lol at the last paragraph, which struck me as the kind of thing a slightly panicked editor would have forced in, in hopes of defanging the vibe just too little too late).
Personally? I didn’t like the movie itself. (Spoilers ahead if you’ve been in a coma since 1200 BC……)
